Borderlands 2: The 7th Vault Hunter
by DooMKrusadeR
Summary: The Borderlands story remade and retold with the addition of a 7th Vault Hunter. My OC. Yeah. There'll be plenty of humor, romance, action, adorableness and awesomeness. OCxGaige KriegxMaya Hope you enjoy! Also check out subaru01rins on DeviantART. The nice person to let me use this amazing picture that Fanfiction does not want me to credit properly with a link to his work. Scrubs.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Friendships Forged, Train Crash Survived

**A/N: So I'm not sure why I'm starting this Fic, but I feel like I have to retell the oh so famous story of Borderlands 2 my way with my OC. Just for laughs and giggles. Also I'll try my best to make some sense of Pandora. Like how the action skill works and stuff like that. So erm my OC is gonna be called Muery and I'm gonna be writing in Muery's POV for the most part of this Fic… Well pretty much the entire Fic is gonna be from his POV but we'll see. Anyways… On to the Fic! Actually hold up… Before we begin, erm this will kinda be like my OC narrating the Fic from his POV which I know kinda sounds weird… But let's roll with it. Cos MUTHAF**KING REASONS!**

~On some train~

Crap. Crap crap crap. Oh shit. Dammit. Shit. Why?

~In some train depot a while ago~

Well this train looks like the perfect place to hide. Plus I don't think it's in operation too! They'll never think of finding me in here! I thought mischievously as I climbed on board the train.

Hmm, I think I should power down my ECHO device so he doesn't find me. I thought as I switched it off and my Heads-Up-Display (HUD) provided by the device flickered away. The ECHO device is a really useful tool in these parts. It grants us a HUD that reads our vital and acts as a digital backpack for all our digitally constructed things. Well it is also a communication device as well. Oh and the most important and coolest thing is that it connects with chips in our bodies to do cool stuff that are called 'Action Skills'. Mine is kinda badass but useless in hide-and-seek so I'm just gonna take a nap now. I'll wake up later to claim my victory.

~On the train~

Why did I fall asleep? Why did I have to fall asleep? I panicked as I tried to decipher what was going on. I might be a 16-year-old orphan, but I still have places I gotta be! Hold on what's that sound and is the floor shaking?

BOOM! BANG CLANG! WHOOSH! BANG! BOOM!

Holy shit. What the hell? I stumbled towards the door at the front of the carriage. I leaned slightly on the door and it gave way under my weight.

"AH!" I yelped as I fell to the floor.

"Woah! I didn't think there'd be anymore stowaways!" A rather young and cute female voice emanated from somewhere above me. Oh right. It probably should since I'm face-flat on the floor.

"I-I'm not stowing away I just-" Before I could finish my sentence though, we were thrown right back in the carriage I just fell out from. There was some kind of explosion at the front of the train and now the carriage is hurtling off the tracks.

"**AHHHH!**" WE both yelled as the carriage tossed us around before knocking us unconscious. Not again. I thought as consciousness started slipping.

~Somewhere really cold and icy~

"Ergh…" I groaned as I came around. Ow.. That was one helluva ride.. Wait. What ride? Oh yeah the train. Wait shit didn't the train explode or something? Oh my shit where am I?

I frantically tried to look around but I could barely make out my surroundings when the weight on my body finally registered.

What the heck is that? I couldn't really see in the dark so I instinctively felt around with my hands. And I felt something I probably will regret in the next five minutes.

"You freaking pervert!" I heard that same cute female voice from earlier yell and all I could do was realise that she is the weight on me.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise you were a person!" I offered in apology. I really didn't think a girl, or at least who I think is a girl to weigh that much.

"What's that supposed to mean? You think I'm heavy?" She asked as she lifted herself off me.

"Oof! Er no I'm just really battered up! You're not heavy at all!" I still couldn't make out my surroundings too well so I couldn't tell if this person was actually heavy or not.

"Where are we?" She asked again, getting to her feet as I hear the scraping of footwear against the metal of the carriage.

"I don't know. Erm, help me out will you?" I asked as my arms didn't seem to be able to lift my weight.

"Oh, er here." A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

"Thanks, I'm Muery by the way." I introduced myself, hoping to identify this stranger.

"Oh erm, I'm Gaige. Hi." Gaige introduced and I decided that Gaige was probably a girl and not a guy with a really cute, high pitched voice. Cause then I'd have to rethink my sexuality.

"You see any way we can get out of here?" I asked as my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.

"I see a little bit of light coming from there." Gaige said, and I assumed she was pointing at somewhere.

"C'mon!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me along.

This girl is pretty assertive. Oh crap… My foot stubbed on something as I tumbled over, dragging Gaige down with me.

"Ouch sorry." I groaned as she slammed on me for the second time in like five minutes or something.

"Thanks for being a great pillow again." She joked and I felt her breath on my face. Wow she is really close right now. Like really, really close. Why am I being bothered by this? CALM DOWN DAMMIT!

"Er help me up again?" I mumbled as I felt her weight lift off me again.

"Yeah here." She grabbed me up again and resumed our little trek over to the light I am starting to see. Man my eyesight is horrible. Shit. Did I hurt my eyes or something?

"Dude, I think this is the window in the door of the carriage. Help me open it up." Gaige's voice cut through my thoughts as I realise we reached the light source.

Oh. Right that door. The one I literally just stood in before I was flung into unconsciousness.

"Okay back up lemme power up my Action Skill." I warned her as I fumbled for my ECHO device.

"And why? What is it?" Gaige asked, and from the little light coming from the window I see her hands on her hip.

"Cos it's a Digistructed Hand Cannon of Awesomeness?" I smirked as I hit the power button on my ECHO.

"So? I'm waiting." Gaige smiled sweetly as she backed away a little bit.

"Erm… I think my ECHO is broken. I can't power it up." I messed around with my ECHO for a little bit before dumping it on the floor.

"Haha let me try. My D374-TP bot should be able to rip that door open." Gaige pulled out her ECHO

"Wow, that's erm a cool name." I shrugged a little as I had already forgotten the name a little.

"I guess I call it Deathtrap as well. Since it kinda… Erm…" Gaige's voice trailed off and I filled in the blanks myself.

"Hey, you didn't mean to though right?" I wasn't sure what to say but I could hear the remorse in her voice.

"No. It was a miscalculation in Deathtrap's programming." Gaige's voice was barely audible as she started to sob silently.

"Hey, accidents happen. I mean I thought this train wasn't in use when I decided to hide in it." I didn't know how else to comfort her.

"Hide? What? What were you hiding from?" Gaige calmed downed a little as she seemed to be a little concerned.

"Erm… My friend." I admitted sheepishly as a smile started forming on her face.

"Your friend?" Gaige asked, clearly starting to get a little amused.

"Hide-and-seek." I mumbled almost incoherently. This is kinda awkward…

"How old are you Muery?" Gaige asked, a smile really prominent on her face.

"I'm 16, in high school. I know. Kinda childish." I shrugged as she burst into laughter.

"Really? You're 16? And you still play hide-and-seek?" She was literally lying on the floor in laughter.

"Hey it was that or go hunting some life-threatening creatures!" I lied. I just wanted to explore the depot a little and the only way to convince my friends to go there was to talk them into playing hide-and-seek there.

"Really? Where do you come from?" Gaige wiped tears from her cheeks as she sat up.

"I erm…" I was abruptly cut off by the door being wrenched open from the outside.

"**I FOUND TWO FLESHIES!**" A really loud and deep voice emanated from outside.

"Holy crap. I think I just shitted myself." Gaige broke the silence with probably the most funny thing I've ever heard a girl say.

So I laugh. Like an idiot. And she thinks I'm laughing at her possibly shitting herself so she proceeds to kick me real hard in the side.

"OW!" I screamed as I curled into a fetal position, gripping my side.

"That'll teach you to laugh at me!" Gaige growled at me, clearly taking a lot of offense.

"No. It's just I've never heard a girl say something like that before! Plus it's totally funny in context right now!" I giggled a littler while groaning in pain.

"Oh… OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY!" Gaige knelt beside me awkwardly as I groaned in pain.

"Oh hey two more kids to the group. Whoopee…" A rather deep and frankly quite annoying male voice came from outside.

"Shut it Axton I'm only a year younger than you." A mature female voice followed shortly.

"You're still younger than me kiddo. So can it." Axton's voice came again as two beefy arms reached in and pulled me and Gaige out.

"**YOU ARE REALLY SMALL FLESHIES!**" This really large and beefy man screamed at us as he hoisted us out of the carriage.

"Erm thanks?" Gaige muttered as he put us on the ground.

"You can stop shouting at the top of your goddamned lungs Krieg." Axton spoke and I turned to face a rather young man with short blonde hair.

"**NIPPLE SALADS!**" Krieg yelled out then roared loudly, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Ah I see you've found more compenheiros Axton!" A short man with a lot of hair on his face came walking by.

"Yeah Sal. I found more buddies… Whoopee…" Axton grumbled at Sal. Sal has to be a nickname right? I don't think Sal could be a full proper name…

"Hey we're right here jerkhole." Gaige glared at Axton as Axton stared back down on her.

"Yeah can it kiddo. You here for the Vault too huh? Seems like any kid and their mom are looking for the Vault too huh?" Axton glared at me next. Why did Gaige have to say something. I mean she could have just kept quiet. Just keep looking pretty. Ergh…

"What's it to you huh? Why do you care?" I growled a little at him. If Gaige was gonna douche on him then I'll do it too. Can't let the lady take all the shit from this dude right?

"Easy tiger. I'm not gonna shit on your girlfriend." Axton smirked as I realise I played into his trap. Great erm… Comeback… Got it.

"At least I have one eh?" I glared at him and I could already feel Gaige staring daggers into my back.

"Hey-!" Gaige started to object but Maya cut her off.

"He just divorced with his wife and had to leave his regiment to avoid an execution. Cut him some slack kid." Maya placed her hand on Axton's back.

"Oh. Erm… Well Gaige and I barely even know each other actually…" I admitted sheepishly as I felt Gaige's glare soften a little.

"You got a sharp tongue kid. We just might become great friends." Axton smiled warmly, I think, and extended a hand. I shook it firmly and put a grin on my face.

"Finally people / You are getting along now / Can we move on then?" A full-suited figure suddenly appeared from nowhere.

"Eep!" Gaige shrieked and jumped into me. I caught her from falling over. She blushed a little as I straightened her up. Score for me? I think so.

"Who are you?" I asked, not sure who or what this 'thing' was. He had four digits on each hand. Is he even human? Is he even a he?

"My identity / Shall remain unknownst to you / Let's keep it at that" He said before a 3-D smiley face hologram flashed on his faceplate.

"Oh okay then. Well, er, where can we go?" I asked, unsure if I could trust this person/thing. And that faceplate is pretty cool. I've never seen anything like that before.

"How about we jus get a move on first in some general direction?" Maya suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement. I mean I sure as hell didn't want to hang around and freeze my ass off.

"And everyone stay sharp. We aren't in the best condition to fight so we better avoid conflict as far as we can." Axton ordered. Well at least it felt like an order after knowing he was an ex-soldier.

"I shall scout ahead / Report anything I find / In a moment's time" The odd figure disappeared again as Axton sat down.

"Well let's wait for Zer0 to get back then." Axton said as he rested against some distorted part of the train.

"His name is Zer0?" I asked arching an eyebrow and sat down too.

"Well that's what we decided to call him since he displayed that number on his faceplate when we asked him the first time." Maya shrugged and leaned against some piece of towering wreck.

"Oh…" I mumbled and let the awkward silence set in.

I read on the ECHOnet somewhere that 4 seconds of silence makes silence awkward. And this was getting kinda awkward since everyone was just sitting around and twiddling their thumbs. I would have gone on my ECHO to try to find a way to get back but it got busted during the crash.

"Hey, erm, where are we exactly? Like right now?" Gaige suddenly asked, breaking the somewhat kinda sacred awkward silence. Hmm, I realise I didn't even know what planet we were on either.

"If any of us had our ECHOs we'd tell you but none of what we were carrying on us survived the crash." Maya explained shrugging, while Axton was making a silent impression of Maya with exaggerated hand gestures.

"Well what planet is this again?" I decided to ask. Ignorance might be bliss in some situations, but not this one. I really wanted to know which hellhole I had landed on.

"This is Pandora compenheiro! My beautiful home planet!" The dwarf dude, Sal spoke up cheerily. I was about to say something about the beauty of the planet but decided against it.

"Right now it looks more like a shit hole to me." Gaige muttered under her breath and I bumped her in the arm. She turned to me and I grinned at her and stuck out my fist. She is the first girl I ever fist bumped.

Sal didn't seem to hear Gaige and didn't care for our fist bump as we continued to idle around in silence. I felt uneasy with the silence but I didn't know what I should talk about. The Vault? What was that? I recalled hearing about somewhere before. Something about it being some kind of treasure maybe? Wait so these guys were all treasure hunters? Or what did Axton call themselves? Vault Hunters? Yeah that's it… So these guys are Vault Hunters…

"So where is this Vault you guys are looking for?" I asked nobody in particular. Axton bent forward and started drawing something in the snow with his fingers.

"You this big 'X' kid? That's where the Vault is and that's where I'm going to claim its loot." Axton grinned as he presented some weirdly drawn map of well, some random squiggly lines and a gigantic 'X'.

"We don't know where the Vault is. That's why we're Vault Hunters?" Maya laughed when she noticed the confused looks Gaige and I were exchanging about the map Axton drew.

"Oh haha Axton really funny." Gaige grumbled as she tried to recover from looking like a fool.

I just sat there and scratched my head. What am I supposed to do? I didn't exactly come here to look for this Vault. I mean hell I didn't even mean to be on this planet. Like what the heck?

"So you two said you weren't here for the Vault right? Why are you here then?" Axton asked Gaige and I all of a sudden.

"I er… Kinda fell asleep no the train while playing hide-and-seek in a train depot…" I admitted, knowing that Gaige wouldn't be too keen on sharing her story.

"WHAT?! Hide-and-seek? How old are you? 5?" Axton burst into hysterical laughter as Maya and Sal couldn't help but stifle their laughter as well.

"Hey it was that or hunt some crazy dangerous creature that would probably kill us…" I gave the same excuse I gave to Gaige. Heck these guys deserved to know the truth less than Gaige if anything.

"And what about you girly? What's your story?" Axton asked at the end of his laughing fit, wiping the tears away. Gaige sat there uneasily and I decided to speak up for her.

"If she doesn't want to share I'm fine with not knowing." I smiled at her, pretending I didn't know her reason.

"Bullshit kid. You two were in the carriage for a while surely she already told you!" Axton reasoned, an I had to admit that was some goos logic… But of course, I had some logic up my sleeves too.

"Well what do you think she did after I told her why I was here?" I said deadpanned. Axton burst into another fit of laughter.

Gaige gave me a small smile and I could read from her lips she was mouthing "Thanks." I smiled back and shook my head a little, telling her "No sweat it."

"There is no one else / Around here we can leave now / Let's all move along" Zer0 suddenly reappeared from nowhere.

"Dude, how do you do that?" I asked, really intrigued by how he disappeared and reappeared so suddenly. A smiley face appeared on his faceplate again before he turned away and led the way.

"Fine, whatever." I muttered to myself as I fell behind the group. Gaige was kinda walking with me too, seeing as how we were both the same age and she might consider me to be a better friend than the others.

"Thanks again for saving me back there dude." Gaige thanked me again, bumping into me softly as we walked.

"Haha hey I'll take every chance to help this damsel." I smiled and bumped her back. She turned away and I could see the red on her face as she turned. She looks so pretty right now. I need to focus. Focus on staying alive and keeping warm. This place is kinda really snowy and icy and cold in general. We moved along the wreckage of the train, that seemingly decided to spread itself all over the landscape because as far as the eye could see right now, there was nothing but burning bits of wrecked train. Then Zer0 stopped dead in his tracks and Axton raised a fist. That mean stop? I guess so since everyone seemingly stopped.

"Ragging frigging scrap. Another train crash. Handsome Jack's been busy." A rather high-pitched and kinda robotic voice emanated from somewhere ahead of us.

"Hmm.." Zer0 muttered and Axton huddled us around.

"Alright there's something out there, origins unknown, I'd guess one target, but I need everyone to find some weapon of sorts anyways." Axton said, pulling his combat axe from its straps.

Maya's fists glowed blue, or rather the tattoos all over her fists glowed blue. Sal raised his fists wearing some kind of brass knuckles on them. Krieg pulled a rather gigantic axe, or what I think is an axe, from the straps on his back and looked as if he was about to burst from excitement or anticipation or something. Zer0 digistructed a blade and wielded it like a samurai wielding a katana. Or maybe it was a digistruct katana. Gaige raised her arm. And none of us noticed till now but she had a robotic arm. It was all metallic and stuff. Wow… I raised both hands palm open. I didn't have any weapon on me except well, my Action Skill… You know, the hand cannon I failed to digistruct? Yeah I mean I wasn't expecting to end up on Pandora and needing to defend myself so I figured my Digistruct Hand Cannon would suffice…

"Great… You wait here. Everyone one else, try to fan out as far as possible. We want to maximize our numbers so let's try to surround whatever it is that's out there." Axton ordered, and Gaige raised her hand.

"Maybe I should stay back here with Muery. I mean if anything comes up behind us you know?" Gaige suggested and Axton fought down another burst of laughter, wearing instead this goofy stretched out grin.

"Muery? What kind of name is Muery? Ha!" He teased me quietly before nodding to Gaige and signaling everyone else to move out.

"Asshat." I muttered under my breath as the others left.

"Thanks." I said to Gaige, who didn't at all seem like she was looking out for other possible threats. I don't blame her. I think after her Deathtrap accidentally killing a someone, I'm guessing a schoolmate or someone from school, I don't think she's too keen to kill anything herself…

Gaige just stood there silently, holding her hands together and shivering slightly. I took off my shirt and draped it over her. Yes, the only shirt I was wearing. Why? Cause screw it I want to impress her. Plus I have a decent tolerance to cold. Well more like I hid and slept in a freezer unit once and won because no one bothered searching there. And I didn't freeze to death. So yeah. Plus it was kind of a drapey top anyways.

"Hey put your shirt back on! You'll freeze!" Gaige tried to shrug off my shirt but I held it over her firmly.

"I had to sleep in a freezer once. I'll be fine Gaige." I smiled reassuringly as I pushed lightly to the ground and sat down myself.

"I'm not even gonna ask why…" She smiled at me before sneezing. That. Was. Really. Freaking. Adorable. Why? I mean I've seen girls sneeze before but Gaige just looked so adorable.

My arm instinctively slid around her neck as I kind of hugged her a little. Like very little. Almost not hugging. Then she leaned in a little and I decided to hell with it. And hugged her close. She really quiet but I could see the red on her face again as she tried to keep her head turned away from me. I wanted to say something to break the silence. But I decided the silence was awesome. At least while it lasted…

**A/N 2: AND THAT IS CHAPTER 1! YAY! Hope those reading this enjoy it so far. I tried to keep as true to the game as possible, like character-wise and all. But I realise Gaige will be OOC sometimes or rather just the girl I believe she should be.. Cos she witnessed her own creation killing someone she knew. AND SHE IS 16… SO YEAH PROBABLY A LITTLE BIT TRAUMATIZED? AND SCARED? SO DON'T BITCH ABOUT HOW SHE'S A SUPER BADASS IN THE GAME I GET IT SHE WILL GET THERE… For now though the more logical character of a frightful and traumatized girl. SO anyways hope you guys enjoyed this also come check my Youtube, where I am doing a new series I called #NoSkillAxton where basically I try to play Borderlands 2 as Axton without using his Sabre Turret. Yeah… So help me out review this Fic, check out my video that will be up as soon as I make a thumbnail for it and keep looking forward to more content guys! See you guys next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Finally Actually Getting Somewhere, Kind of

~Still At That Really Cold and Icy Place~

"Ooh! You guys aren't dead! Wait… What's with the weapons guys? Can't we talk about this?" That high-pitched robotic voice emanated again. I assumed whatever it was out there had spotted Axton and the others.

"Look! I'm just a harmless CL4P-TP steward bot! Better known as Claptrap. Okay no shovel look!" The voice kind of screamed out again.

Wow, whatever it was out there it sure was a coward. But maybe it was an act. I decided Gaige and I had to go and try to help if needed if things got ugly.

"Hey, I think we should go and see what's going just in case things get messy." I voiced as Gaige nodded and stood up.

I told her to keep my shirt around her as I took the lead, holding her hand and keeping her close to me.

"Here, have these ECHO devices I totally didn't loot from these dead corpses!" The CL4P-TP steward bot rushed around several dead corpses, passing around some ECHO devices.

"Hey let's go get one too." I gestured as we walked up to them.

"Oh! You guys can have one each too!" The little robot exclaimed when he saw us. Everyone turned to face us and Axton immediately turned away in laughter as he saw me shirtless.

"Thanks." Gaige and I thanked the little robot at the same time. A class 12 HUD popped up and there was even a minimap in the top right corner of my vision. Wow, my vitals were shit low in the left corner of my vision. Crap.

~Windshear Waste~

"Anyways, since you guys are all not dead, I can finally get off this glacier! Claptrap your metaphorical ship has finally arrived!" Claptrap fist pumped in the air with his robotic arms and started rolling away.

"Should we, er, you know, follow it?" Maya asked. I had already started following the little robot and I was pulling Gaige along as well.

"Hey where do you kids think you're going? I'm the Commander of the group!" Axton growled.

I didn't care what he said. Taking care of Gaige was my personal priority for now. The little robot seemed nice enough so he might be able to help us all out. Plus if he still operates well in these conditions he probably has some kind of heat source somewhere to prevent his circuits from freezing up. Then Gaige could warm herself up too. There was a little bit of a trek to wherever the little robot was going but we kept going. I offered to piggyback Gaige but she turned me down. Until she almost collapsed from the cold. Wow she has almost no tolerance to the cold. I hefted her over my shoulders.

"Claptrap! How much further?" I yelled as loud as I could. The little bugger was moving so much faster than I could with Gaige on my shoulders.

"It's just a little bit further minion! Your ability to walk short distances without dying will be Handsome Jack's downfall!" Claptrap yelled back.

"Hey wait up Claptrap!" I hollered as I lost sight of his silhouette in the approaching mini snow storm.

Great I can't tell if the other followed behind me or if they stayed where they are. And fuck I'm staring to feel cold now. I forced myself to keep going. Gaige was shivering harder then before. C'mon dude. Hero. Not zero. Focus. One foot in front of the other. Tight grip on Gaige's thighs. Holy fuck. I'm holding on to Gaige's thighs. Wait fuck stop thinking about that. Keep moving.

"Minion! Hurry up!" Claptrap's voice cut through my train of thought.

Oh there he is! The mini snow storm died down and I saw him standing and waving his robotic arms in the air. Great I'm not going to freeze to death out here with Gaige. I'd probably have to watch her go if it came to that though.

"Hey, we're almost to some heat. Hopefully." I told Gaige as her head lulled a little on my shoulder and whispered the last part.

"Just a little added security to keep the bullymongs at out." Claptrap said, standing in front of a door scanner that swung open after scanning Claptrap.

"Geez… You couldn't wait up huh?" Axton's voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw the rest of the group following behind.

"Oh… Well I didn't think you wanted to follow this robot anyways." I shrugged, or rather tried to before I remembered Gaige was still on my shoulders.

"Who said that. We were going to follow the little guy! You just ran off so quickly." Axton argued, looking as if something was up.

"Besides, that Claptrap that help us get of this glacier!" Maya said, as if that was a fact. Wait, why did she say it like that? No one told me anything about this little robot getting us off this glacier...

"Wait, who told you that?" I asked, still piggybacking a shivering Gaige.

"Actually, that can wait." I said as soon as I hear the sound of crackling fire. I headed further into Claptrap's place and found the furnace. I set Gaige beside the furnace and threw my shirt back on.

"Thanks Muery." Gaige mumbled as her cheeks regained colour and she started to smile.

"Haha no problem Gaige." I smiled back at her as the warm tendril of heat snaked all over my body. The heat felt refreshingly good.

"Bullymongs live nearby and are very dangerous, none more than this bullymongmong known as Knuckledragger. But we should be pretty safe in here. Anyhoo I keep a pistol in the cabinet over there." Claptrap smiled and stood by the fireplace not specifically directing us in any location.

Everyone else was dispersed around the little living quarter, looking at stuff and messing with things. Then a really loud roar came from above. I looked up. Crap, there was a gigantic hole in the ceiling above the furnace. I quickly pulled Gaige away from the furnace right before something hopped in through that same hole.

"AH!" Claptrap yelped as the creature slid down the exhaust pipe of the furnace and ripped out his eye.

Holy crap. Everyone brought up their weapons but that creature just jumped right back out, as if all it wanted was the eye.

"The gun. The gun in the cabinet…" Claptrap groaned and we all spread out to find that cabinet.

There were a lot of cabinets around. I wasn't sure where to look so I just decided to go for the one most out of the way. The cabinet doors were kind of frozen shut together.

"Er, guys? Some help here? This doors' are frozen shut!" I called out and Sal come over.

"Let me compenheiro!" He gripped the handles of the door and wrenched them clean off the cabinet. A gun and some weird looking vials clattered on to the floor.

"Insta health? What's this?" I picked up one vial and examined it.

It was a vial filled with pink liquid. At one end was a syringe tip of sorts, that made me believe it was for administering the liquid in the vial. The pink liquid sort of glowed a little.

"Great, some Anshin to heal us all up. Take a jab everyone." Axton called out as he stabbed one into his arm and injected all the liquid in.

"Woah. What the hell is this thing anyways?" I asked, still not sure if I wanted to inject it into me.

But my question fell on deaf ears as everyone else grabbed a vial and injected the liquids into themselves. They seemed to all look slightly better after taking the self-administered shot. I decided to take a shot myself. The liquid flowed through my body as I actually felt some wounds I never realised were there close up and heal. My vision became as sharp as I remembered it should be and I didn't feel the soreness I felt literally seconds ago due to the cold. My vitals in the bottom left corner of my HUD went up. I grabbed the last vial and knelt beside Gaige.

"Hey, this will probably sting a bit but you'll feel much better after the shot okay?" I asked as she gave a slight nod.

I administered the shot as quickly as I could. At first she didn't react. Then the colour completely returned to her face as she blinked her eyes open and looked around.

"Hey thanks for taking so much care of me." She said as she blushed and tilted her head towards the ground.

"No sweat Gaige!" I smiled warmly, and for the first time since the crash, I felt really good about myself.

"We need to get my eye back! Without it we can't get off this glacier!" Claptrap sort of cried out before rolling to the end of his quarters, bumping into like everything.

"Oof! Omph! Argh!" Claptrap made several million noises as he bumped around.

"Alright we need to track down that bullymong and get the robot's eye back." Axton commanded, as the other Vault Hunters nodded.

"Wait, why are you guys acting like you know something I don't?" I asked questioningly.

"Yeah… What did I miss out on?" Gaige asked as well.

The five of them looked at each other and then to us.

"You two aren't exactly Vault Hunters right?" Axton asked us.

"Yeah, but what has that got to do with anything?" I demanded.

"We'll get you two to Sanctuary where you can wait for some transport or other to take you kids back wherever you came from." Axton stated matter-of-factly.

"Woah hold up. Where's Sanctuary and why is it I can't decide I want to become a Vault Hunter now?" I glared at Axton.

"Look it's for your own good alright guys? We're kind of professionals." Maya spoke up.

"So just cause we're teenagers you guy think we don't have what it takes to become Vault Hunters?" Gaige shot right back.

"If these two want to be Vault Hunters, I say we let 'em!" Sal bellowed as he walked over to us and pat our backs simultaneously.

Gaige and I coughed a little after he knocked the wind out of us. She recovered fast enough but I was kind of wheezing a little still. I'm not exactly the most fit and strongest guy around.

"Woah you okay there cúmbila?" Sal placed a hand on my shoulder. I coughed and wheezed for a good 3 seconds before I calmed down.

"That cold might have messed up my lungs a little more than I thought…" I hacked a couple more times as I spoke.

"Hell I'm surprised you didn't freeze to death. Running around shirtless like that." Axton chuckled a little as I finished up my mini coughing spazz.

"A heroic deed / Should never be mocked ever / Apologise now" Zer0 spoke up for me right before I got a chance to retort.

"Haha alright that was really chivalrous of you Muery." Axton laughed a little saying my name.

"Yeah whatever." I said as I went to pick the gun of the floor.

"Hey gimme that kid." Axton became all serious as soon as he saw me pick at the gun.

"Why? I'm the only one without any form of self-defense. Plus, I can totally prove my worth." I held the pistol firmly as the ECHO loaded a reticle on my HUD.

"No way kid. I'm the best shot around here." Axton said matter-of-factly, emphasizing his point reaching for the gun.

"I'm definitely as good a shot as you. If not better." I held my ground.

I can digistruct a hand cannon. And I've blasted things before. I've also gone hunting too. With sniper rifles. I was willing to bet I'd be as good a shot as this arrogant ex-soldier.

"Hey, you guys coming or what?" Claptrap's voice echoed from somewhere outside.

"**DON'T SHOOT THE NON-DESERVING!**" Krieg screamed out as he ran outside to Claptrap. Maya and Zer0 followed him.

"Give. Me. The. Gun." Axton made deliberate pauses to emphasize his want for the gun.

"I said: I'm not giving it. I'm as good a shot as you." I growled as I kept the gun pointed at the ground.

"Compenheiro, let him have the gun. He needs to kill the things that want to kill him!" Sal patted Axton on the back before heading out as well.

"C'mon Gaige." I helped Gaige to her feet and walked out with her. I heard Axton's footsteps behind as we walked.

"You better watch out kid." He breathed as he walked past me.

"I bet we'll find my eye in Frostbite Crevasse." Claptrap said cheerily.

"Now onward seeing eye minions. Let me know if I'm going to bump into anything.

"Clap-" Maya began but Claptrap run himself into a corner anyways.

"I'll just pretend you didn't see that." Claptrap mumbled before rolling off.

"Stick close to the robot - he will help you get off this glacier, and into the city of Sanctuary. That is the only place you'll be safe." A woman's face flossed across my HUD and I stopped in my tracks.

"Woah what was that?" Gaige and I said and the exact same time.

"You saw it too?" Again.

"Yeah!" Okay, getting weird now.

"Erm… Heh heh she said something about getting to Sanctuary?" I asked as Gaige kind of just looked away awkwardly.

"Yeah, but who was she?" Gaige looked back and asked.

"She's a friend." Maya spoke up.

"Oh so I'm guessing she told all of you that Claptrap would help get us off this glacier?" I asked, realizing this was why they probably followed Claptrap when Axton didn't seem all too keen.

"You're a smart kid." Axton said mockingly as I brushed it aside and did my best to stay in front of the group well still supporting Gaige.

"Hey, I think I can walk on my own again. Thanks Muery." Gaige smiled as she hobbled two steps before walking kind of straight again.

"No sweat it." I smiled back.

"Ahhh! I hear bullymongs! Sic 'em minions! PROTECT ME SQUIRES!" Claptrap yelled out as growling echoed from almost every direction.

Everyone readied their weapons and started looking around. I noticed a little red dot suddenly pop up on my minimap coming from the north of a group of arrows. Wow never noticed that but those arrows are probably us. And that red dot… A bullymong jumped over an arc of ice and howled at me. I brought the pistol up to my eyes, pointed at the creature and squeezed the trigger. A burst of bullet impacted the bullymong in the head as its lifeless body flew backwards. More roars echoed as another three dots popped up on the minimap. Great. I aimed as fast as I could but I only managed to take two down. The last one leaped at me as I reloaded the pistol.

"SHIT!" I yelled as I fumbled with the clip a little.

I managed to slot the clip back into the pistol right as a digistruct blade stabbed through the bullymong while it was in midair.

"Holy… Thanks Zer0." I muttered as he materialized in front of me.

"That was merely a / Simple coincidence that / I stabbed the creature" Zer0 nodded before stepping aside.

"Thanks anyways." I muttered, really impressed by him.

"Not bad kid. Not bad at all." Axton spoke up from behind me.

"What did I tell ya?" I smirked at him.

"I say you earned your keep if you really want to become a Vault Hunter." Axton patted me on the shoulder.

"Now it's her turn to earn her keep." Axton took the pistol out of my so quickly I didn't have time to react.

"What? I have to kill things?" Gaige stared at the pistol in fear and shock.

"Hey, I'll be responsible for her! She doesn't have to earn her keep. I'll be her keep." I took the gun back from Axton.

"No can do kid. She has to prove herself or we're leaving her in Sanctuary." Axton grabbed the gun back and put into Gaige's hands.

Something snapped in me. Axton was being a dick. She was on the run from killing someone she didn't intend. And now he wants her to kill living creatures for survival? yeah alright that's not a horrible reason to be killing but still. She isn't ready yet, if she will ever be. A little green icon flashed above my vitals on my HUD. Ah. The Party Cannon was up and running again. I could feel the chips in my arm powering up. Perfect. I'll blast him to smithereens if I had to. I clenched my fist and the cannon digistructed itself.

"She's my responsibility Axton." I growled through gritted teeth as my cannon started charging.

A reticle for the cannon appeared on my HUD and I pointed at Axton.

"Woah. Easy okay she' all yours. Put that thing away kid." Axton took the pistol out of Gaige's hand.

"Muery! Put that away!" Maya shouted as my Party Cannon finished charging and was humming really loudly.

"No." I fired.

The energy shot whizzed past Axton, right above Claptrap and hit a larger bullymong right in its little head, blowing it clean off. The Party Cannon dematerialized as I grinned at Axton.

"Gotcha there didn't I?" I socked him in the arm lightly as his lips curled into a small smile.

"Come on minions! At this rate we'll never get my eye back. Then we'll never get to Sanctuary!" Claptrap exclaimed as he rolled ahead.

"You two better not drag us down then." Axton said as he continued after Claptrap.

Maya asked me not to ever pull a stunt like that again before walking off. Sal told me that was a great shot before following Maya. Krieg grabbed me by my shoulders and screamed at me, telling me I did good for not shooting a non-deserving.

"I really thought you were gonna shoot him back there." Gaige looked at me with fearful eyes.

"I'd never. Though I wanted to." I held her hand tightly.

"Thanks for everything so far Muery. I mean we barely even know each other and you've helped and saved me so much already." Gaige blushed as we started following further behind.

"Well, I already said it right? I'd take any chance to save this damsel." I grinned at her and she elbowed me playfully.

"You're my knight in shining armour now or something?" Gaige joked.

"Hey if I could be your Prince Charming too I wouldn't mind." I blushed a little as I said it.

"Oh… Er…" Gaige blushed really brightly as she turned away from me and pulled her hand back

Smooth dude. Real smooth. I chided myself as we walked in awkward silence.

**A/N: And that's it for chapter 2! I hope the little bit of action at the end wasn't too boring. Also, I might or might not actually use the actual transcript from the game from time to time because It's a little difficult to force the dialogue according to the game when the game only ever has NPC dialogue. Anyway here's a really awkward cliffhanger, well not for you guys reading but for Muery and Gaige. You guys think Gaige will reject Muery? She hasn't met Sir Hammerlock yet either. Her supposed love interest according to the game. Which I am really disturbed by, seeing as Hammerlock is a really old dude…. Anyways the first episode of my Youtube series #NoSkillAxton is up and I hope those of you guys reading this will give that a chance as well! Hope you guys have a great time and see you guys in the next chapter! Bye! Also this note probably makes almost no sense but I don't think this note is too important at all so hope the chapter made some sense! :p**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Little Challenge of A Kill and Then Loads More Killing

~Just outside of Frostbite Crevasse~

Woah. Why is the ground shaking? An avalanche better not kill us all right now.

"What was that?" Maya asked as bits of snow and ice fell from the cliff edges around us.

"Jack's drilling operations are tearing this planet apart! That or your mom just got out of bed! Zing!" Claptrap exclaimed as he rolled right off an edge and fell into the snow below.

"Oh that's a good one!" Axton slapped his thigh as he burst into laughter.

"Wow…" I muttered at the horrible joke.

Maya facepalmed and groaned while Sal merely smiled a little. Krieg was unnaturally silent. Then, roars filled the atmosphere as bullymongs leaped out from holes in the cliff walls. There were eleven bullymongs about to destroy Claptrap.

"Oh shit." Axton grumbled as he counted their numbers.

"Muery, back me up with your - Party Cannon." Axton held back a giggle as he pointed me to the edge.

"Yeah just go crazy Axton." I grumbled as I knelt by the edge.

"I will go as well / To create a symphony / Of blood and entrails" Zer0 spoke up and disappeared.

Axton leaped over the edge. I powered my my Party Cannon. I had ten shots before it'd need to cool down. Or one big charged shot like before. Axton popped the first bullymong and they charged him. I plugged two in the head as Zer0's blade cut through a fourth. Four down at least six more to go. Axton crippled three with two well placed bursts. Zer0 punctuated another one. I blasted the three crippled ones. One shot hit a projectile a larger bullymong threw. Shit. I quickly burst fired two more shots at that bullymong charging Axton. It dropped dead. The two larger bullymongs flung more projectiles at Axton. A slightly smaller bullymong's head got severed. Axton must have been reloading since I din't hear gunfire. Three more shots, my HUD warned me as I tried to target the two flying projectiles. I loosed off two shots and the projectiles exploded. Axton burst another salvo of bullets at one of the bullymongs. I fired my last shot of the charge and my Party Cannon dematerialized. The bullymong was crippled by that shot and that gave Axton enough time to put a burst into its tiny head.

"Wow. Good shooting Muery." Maya patted me on the back.

"Heh thanks." I grinned as I spotted Gaige shifting uncomfortably in the corner of my eye.

"**THE BLOOD! THE BLOOD!**" Krieg hollered before leaping of the edge.

"You were amazing with your shooting cúmbila!" Sal roared in laughter and hopped of the edge.

"Hey Gaige." I walked up to her but she just smiled weakly and walked towards the edge.

She dropped off and landed safely on her feet. I followed suit and hopped down to. Axton and Sal were already pulling Claptrap out of the ground.

"Many thanks, friends of friends!" Claptrap said and rolled off further into Frostbite Crevasse.

"Hey kiddos! President of Hyperion Corporation, Handsome Jack here! You see, when Vault Hunters come looking for a new Vault, I kill 'em. You seine' the problem here? You guys aren't dead! So if you kids could just off yourselves that'd be awesome!" A voice suddenly came from the ECHO.

"Who was that?" I asked no one in particular.

"Handsome Jack. He was the one who put out notices calling for Vault Hunters to come to Pandora. But he thinks it's really funny to kill all these Vault Hunters when they arrive." Axton muttered under his breath as a loud roar cut Axton short.

"My eye just switched back on! I can see a handsome robot and a group of tough looking minions! That means whoever has my eye…. IS REALLY CLOSE!" Claptrap yelled and started flailing his arms around.

Yeah no shit. Knuckledragger was right there. Roaring at us on the top of some barge. Oh shit. Is he actually gonna throw that?- Fuck. All of us made a dive for it us Knuckledragger threw a burning wreckage of scrap metal at us.

"Shit! That was way too close. Maya, Salvador and Gaige, back off! Zer0, Krieg, Muery and I got this!" Axton shouted as Krieg pulled out his axe thing and Zer0 disappeared.

"**BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD! KILL! KILL! KILL!**" Krieg yelled as he charged Knuckledragger when he jumped of the barge.

"Come on Muery! Party Cannon!" Axton ordered as he put a burst of bullets into Knuckledragger after he swiped Krieg to the side.

"Yeah it's still cooling down!" I waited for the indicator to turn green before I started charging it up.

Zer0 reappeared on top of Knuckledragger, digistructed blade plunged into him as Knuckledragger roared and tried to shake him off. Axton emptied the entire clip at Knuckle dragger but he didn't seem the least bit affected.

"Let's see how you like the Party Cannon!" I yelled as I fired the charged shot at him.

He took it well. Zer0 was blown off due to the explosion and Knuckledragger was still roaring at us as Axton emptied a second clip into him.

"**LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M CHARGING AT YOU!**" Krieg got up and yelled as he charged Knuckledragger again.

This time his axe struck Knuckledragger straight in the head and the beast let out a spine-shivering roar. He grabbed two chunks of the ground and flung it at us. Axton dived out of the way midway of his clip while I wasn't as fast. The rock hit me square in my midsection before sending me flying to Maya, Salvador and Gaige.

"Ergh…" I groaned as I heard Gaige shout something by my side. Maya and Salvador were also saying things but I couldn't hear them. My vision went to crap as the last thing I noticed on my HUD was my low as heck vitals. I really hope I wake up. I thought before losing consciousness.

"Woah!" I bolted up right as felt a surge of strength flow through my body.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Gaige threw her arms around me as Maya and Salvador were no where to be seen.

"Argh!" I heard Axton yelp as I got on to my feet.

"What's going on?" I asked Gaige as she pointed to where Maya and Salvador lay unconscious and Knuckledragger was on Axton. Krieg was charging Knuckledragger and Zer0 was no where to be seen.

"Axton!" I shouted as I powered up the Party Cannon.

He saw the cannon powering up and brought his hands to his face.

"Eat shit Knuckle dragger!" I roared as I blasted him right before he brought his gigantic arms down on Axton.

Knuckledragger flew off Axton and crumpled against the wall.

"Shit what about Maya and Salvador?" I asked as I ran over to them.

"We need some Anshin." Axton panted a little and staggered over to them.

"Alright those pink vials right? I'll go look. Gaige you stay with them." I grunted as I scrambled around.

There in some yellow boxes? I'm not sure that they are boxes but whatever. I hit the green button and the box opened up. Some bullets and two pink vials.

"Hey Axton I got two of 'em over here!" I called out.

"Yeah gimme one. Give the other to Maya." Axton groaned as I passed him one vial and passed the other to Gaige to administer to Maya.

"**DIE! DIE! DIE!**" I heard Krieg yell as I turned to see him bashing Knuckledragger with his axe thing.

Then Knuckledragger decided he had enough. He slammed Krieg right into the ice wall before advancing on me. The Party Cannon was ready. I digistructed it as I ran to another box while charging. I could hear his ferocious roar right behind me as I dived for the box. My finger mad contact with the green button and the box opened up. Knuckledragger was already on me. I pointed and shot. The blast from the explosion knocked whatever was in that box around. I scrambled to my feet and dived for one of the two Anshin vials. I heard a burst of bullets thud into Knuckledragger as he turned his attention away from me.

"Gaige! Catch!" I yelled as I threw the Anshin vial as hard as I could.

"Gotcha!" Gaige snatched it out of the air before plunging it into Salvador.

"**STOP SCREAMING!**" Krieg yelled from somewhere before he charged maniacally towards Knuckledragger.

Knuckledragger was stumped as he considered which target he should attack first. Axton, who was shooting at him like there was no tomorrow, or Krieg, the yelling madman swinging his gigantic axe thing around? He couldn't decide in time as Krieg crashed into Knuckledragger with his axe and flung Knuckledragger back. Krieg continued his onslaught as he swung his axe ferociously, in quick succession.

"**GRIND GRIND GRIND! KILL KILL KILL!**" Krieg yelled in jubilee as he dealt blow after blow against Knuckledragger.

"Krieg! I it's dead!" I yelled as I noticed the vital levels of Knuckledragger.

"KRIEG!" I yelled as I lunged on him.

"Woah!" I yelped as he swung me right off effortlessly.

"**STAY OUT OF MY WAY LITTLE FLESHY!**" Krieg yelled at me before returning to hack at the corpse of Knuckledragger.

"Krieg stop splashing blood everywhere!" Maya hollered before Krieg finally stopped.

"**Fine since you asked so nicely!**" Krieg grumbled maniacally as he put his axe back in its strap.

"Hey! If you guys don't mind, mind picking my eye up?" Claptrap emerged from behind a rock. Wait, how did he know there was a rock there for him to hide? Then again, I don't really care.

"Hmph! Here, I got it!" Gaige grunted as she yanked it off a chain around Knuckledragger's neck.

"Woah… What's this?" Maya cooed as we all turned to look at her. Except, well, Claptrap, who was bumping around, bugging us to get going to find someone to repair his eye.

"That, is a very shiny gun." Axton commented as Maya picked it up to inspect it.

"My HUD is telling me this is a really powerful gun! It's also supposedly legendary and called the Hornet." Maya might be drooling a little. I'm not sure and I don't want to know.

"Oh, now that you mentioned it, this is a Basic Repeater." Axton said, "Oh, and it's manufactured by Dahl."

"So is this Hornet. Hey, mind if I hold on to this one? It's got a corroding rounds." Maya smiled at Axton sweetly.

"Oh alright fine…" Axton grumbled and stalked off.

"Come on minions! We have to find Hammerlock so he can fix my eye for me!" Claptrap exclaimed cheerily before rolling into a pile of something I didn't want to know what it was.

"Hey compenheiro, there's a Loaded Revolver here." Salvador called out as he picked up a dull looking gun.

"It's okay Sal. You hold on to that one. This Basic Repeater will do me fine for now." Axton said before heading a the slope to the barge.

"Man that was pretty intense huh?" I asked Gaige as we walked up the slope behind the group.

"Yeah, you had me really worried there a while." Gaige help on to Claptrap's eye tightly.

"Sorry for worrying you Gaige. But I'm alright now right?" I punched her in the arm softly as she smiled and punched me back.

"I still can't believe we killed that thing though." Gaige took a breath as she looked uncomfortable.

"Hammerlock is on the opposite side of this barge in Liar's Berg. What say we cut through it chums?" Claptrap said before standing in front of a scanner.

"Hey, it was either that creature or us." I said weakly as she forced a smile.

"Yeah, I guess it was." She looked at the ground, clutching on to Claptrap's eye so tightly I saw the veins of her real hand starting to show.

"Access denied." A robotic female voice came from the barge as a second set of locks clanged over the barge door.

"Well, I hear getting eaten alive by bullymongs isn't so bad!" Claptrap turned back to face us all.

"Alright step back." I powered up my Party Cannon and everyone got back.

"Hold on, let me get that-" That strange women flashed on to my HUD as I blasted the barge door open.

"Oh. Erm. Never mind then. Please do stock up on some supplies here. The road to Sanctuary will be a long one." She said, with a startled expression on her face.

"Who are you?" I asked before she disappeared again.

"Let's just say I am a friend." She replied before disappearing from my HUD.

"Wow… You couldn't wait Muery?" Axton grumbled as he stalked over the jagged burnt edges of the hole I put in the barge.

"Well I'm sorry I didn't know our 'friend' was going to open it for us." I spat as walked in as well. Everyone else piled in behind me.

"Woah, that's a weapon chest. Sweet! More loot!" Axton squealed in glee as he hit it open.

"Dibs!" Axton grabbed the shotgun that appeared on the main part of the chest after throwing the pistol to Salvador.

"Haha! Now I can Gunzerk with two guns!" Salvador roared in laughter as Maya, Krieg and Zer0 looted the rest of the containers in the barge.

"Let me know when you're ready to go minions!" Claptrap said, standing by the side.

"Yeah let's go." Axton said as Claptrap rolled into two empty containers before bumping into the door controls of the other side of the barge.

~Southern Shelf~

"Keep your wits about you minions. This glacier's run by a bandit named Captain Flynt. The jerk kept me as his torture plaything for months." Claptrap mumbled before falling down a slope.

"Hello Pandora! Handsome Jack here. Offering a million bucks for each of the heads of the Vault Hunters that just arrived in Liar's Berg. Oh, and I'm still offering a reward for Roland, the mass murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders! Happy hunting, bandits!" Handsome Jack's voice came over the planet-wide ECHO network.

"A million bucks? Let's hunt ourselves some Vault Hunters boys!" Another voice came over the ECHO.

"Wow, that's all I'm worth? A million bucks?" Axton grumbled as we stepped out the other side of the barge.

"Hey, I don't want to be killed for some bounty reward." Gaige spoke up and almost dropped Claptrap's eye as she shook a little.

"Relax girly. There are seven of us. SEVEN. There's no way they can kill all of us." Axton smiled as we headed down the slope into Liar's Berg.

"I hear bullymongs… PROTECT ME SQUIRES!" Claptrap yelled as bullymongs appeared from their homes in the holes in the ice shelves.

Axton, Maya, Salvador, Zer0 and Krieg made quick work of them seeing as how they were all armed. Krieg sort of seemed to be a little more crazed in his attacking manner all of a sudden.

"Ah great. First Captain Flint's men attack and now Claptrap shows up. Say Vault Hunters, do you mind getting rid of these bandits for me?" A voice came over the ECHO.

Claptrap rolled over to a panel that appeared to be for opening a gate leading into Liar's Berg. It was a gate made of flimsy sheet metal. Again, I blasted it down.

"Dammit kid! Can't you be just a little bit patient?" Axton growled at me.

"Nope. Especially not when there are bandits waiting to kill us. Heads up Axton!" I dived to the side and brought Gaige down with me as a bullet whizzed by.

Axton ran into Liar's Berg and shot the brains out of the closest guy. Maya liquified another guy with the corrosive rounds of the Hornet we found. Salvador went to town as he unloaded bullet after bullet from the two pistols. Bandits were dropping dead as Zer0 stabbed them seemingly from nowhere. Krieg just kept hollering things as he swung his axe thing at the bandits and decapitated some while cutting some clean in half. I pulled Gaige behind a wall as the Party Cannon winked green in the corner of my HUD. I peeked out from the corner of the wall.

"Axton!" I called out as a bandit was about to stab him in the back.

I couldn't shoot at him, cause if he ducked I'd hit Axton. Thankfully the bandit dropped dead as Zer0's digistruct blade pierced through his chest. I asked Gaige to stay put as I ran over to his corpse and picked up the blade.

"Ah!" Gaige's scream came from behind the wall as I turned and sprinted.

"Back off!" I yelled at the bullymong about to swipe at Gaige.

It turned its attention to me before leaping into the sky. I pointed my Party Cannon at it and loosed two shots. Its corpse dropped and fell shy of completely crushing me.

"You okay?" I asked Gaige as she slumped to the ground.

"Yeah. Thanks again Muery." She panted a little, from the fright probably.

"All clear!" Axton called out as the sound of death and gunfire ceased.

"Hey Hammerlock! Since my minions just helped you clean up your town, you mind doing your bestie Claptrap a favour and repair my eye?" Claptrap exclaimed cheerily as he rolled over to a fenced off building. We gathered around Claptrap.

"Ah yes I suppose so. Stand back while I turn off the electrical fence for you." Hammerlock's voice came over the ECHO.

"I knew Hammerlock would come though. We're like two peas in a pod, two bullets in a mag, two-" Claptrap was cut off as he ran into the electrical fence, which had yet to be switched off.

"Apologies, Vault Hunters. But when Claptrap speaks I feel my brain cells committing suicide one by one. I shall be out directly." Hammerlock's voice came over the ECHO.

The door of the building behind the electrical fence opened before a rather old dude in a futuristic version of a Victorian adventurers outfit stepped out.

"A pleasure to meet you Vault Hunters! I am Sir Hammerlock. At your service!" He greeted us before opening up the fence.

"Hey. Claptrap said you can repair his eye so we can get off this glacier. That right?" Axton said as a greeting. I couldn't blame the guy for being so hostile. Same way he treated me and Gaige too.

"Don't mind him. He'll grow on you." Maya smiled as she took the words right out of my mouth.

"Okay. Well hand me his eye. Whomever of you is holding it." Hammerlock requested for the eye as Gaige stepped forward with it.

"Your arm…" Gaige stared intently at Hammerlock's prosthetic arm, as everyone just took notice of it as well.

"Ah that is a story for another time little lady. Now I should repair Claptrap's eye." Hammerlock smiled widely before proceeding to fix Claptrap's eye.

I decided to go look around town as Hammerlock started to fix Claptrap's eye. Axton had decided to pick out one of the empty buildings for him to sleep in if we needed to camp out here for a few days. Zer0 just disappeared as usual. Krieg went wandering around as Maya and Salvador decided to follow him to make sure he didn't destroy anything. Gaige stayed behind to chat with Hammerlock about his arm.

I headed over to what I thought was the cemetery. What? Cemeteries are creepy. Well, not when they're kinda in the ice and in broad daylight. 'Sides it was the quietest part of this little town. Also Gaige probably wouldn't come here by herself. I mean she's got Hammerlock to talk to. The other person with a prosthetic limb aside from herself. What? Jealous? No way. I'm not a guy to 'get jealous' over something as small as this.

"**ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!**" A roar filled the atmosphere as a bullymong emerged from one of the holes in the wall.

"Oh crap." I muttered as I looked around. The others were nowhere near and they probably wouldn't make it in time even if they heard the bullymongs.

Three more appeared in three other holes as the first one hopped out and landed with a thud right in front of me.

"Easy…" I slowly backed up as I kept watch on the Party Cannon.

Still grey. Shit. Shit shit shit. I took another slow deliberate breath as the bullymongs growled and roared at me. Yeah. Okay. I'm actually scared now. Crap. A green flash.

"HAHA! SUCK ON THIS!" I yelled in ecstasy as I powered up the Party Cannon and blew all four of their heads off in quick succession.

Another three more appeared from the holes and leaped at me as I took 'em out in five shots. What? They were in midair okay?

"What the hell?" I heard Axton's voice calling from behind me.

I turned around to see the rest of the group, Hammerlock and Claptrap included, standing there.

"What?" I asked as Axton ran over to me.

"Why didn't you call me? Dude how could you leave me out of the action!" Axton shoved me a little and turned away immediately.

"Oh alright. I'm sorry Axton." I rolled my eyes as he turned back to face me.

"Never again you hear me?" Axton wagged a finger at me.

"Well, you're in luck Axton. The pond still needs clearing out!" Hammerlock spoke up from behind.

"Alright!" Axton fist pumped into the air and raced off. Salvador decided to tag along for this one.

"Well, what else can we do around here besides freezing our butts off?" I asked Hammerlock, expecting some kind smart ass reply.

"Well, I have a few errands I could use the help of go-getting slayers like yourselves. But that can wait till tomorrow eh?" Hammerlock smiled widely as we headed back into town.

"Hah! Those bullymongs were nothing!" Axton gloated as we neared the centre of town.

"Well compenheiro I **was** shooting most of the things after all." Salvador smirked as Axton glared at him.

"Hey, I shot up my fair share of bullymongs too alright?" Axton growled a little at Salvador.

"Well, I'm turning in for the night. You picked a place yet Axton?" I grumbled a little as looked around. None of these houses were occupied apparently. Hammerlock was the only survivor. Lucky bastard i guess.

"Well I figured I'd take that place over there and bunk with Sal. Wadya say amigo?" Axton pointed at one building.

"Eh. Fine by me." Salvador shrugged as they headed to their sleeping quarters.

"Those two aren't gay are they?" I asked Maya and she actually laughed.

"No. I just think that since they're both killer of things, one being an ex-soldier, the other being a vigilante, they just feel connected to each other!" Maya smiled as she headed for one building. Krieg went into the one beside hers.

"Hey wanna bunk Zer0?" I asked, not daring to ask Gaige as I feared she might already have been invited by Hammerlock to sleep over at his place.

"Actually, if you don't mind young Vault Hunter, I would like to request that Zer0 stay at my place. I'd be very interested to know more about you." Hammerlock offered Zer0 his place.

"As darkness descends / A resting place I will need / But not with you two" Zer0 said before vanishing.

"Well there's that I suppose. Well good night kids!" Hammerlock smiled before returning to his abode.

"Did you actually want to bunk with Zer0?" Gaige asked as she stared me down.

"What? I just thought you might want to bunk with Hammerlock and find out more about his arm…" I shrugged as I headed for one of the slightly larger buildings.

"Yeah I asked him too, but he said he'd rather tell the story some other time." Gaige pouted as she stalked behind me.

"Well, you can take this place while I sleep next door. How does that sound?" I asked as I realised a teenage boy and a teenage girl probably shouldn't sleep together. Especially when they are stranded on an unknown planet. And if they barely know each other.

"Why can't we sleep in the same building?" Gaige asked and cocked an eyebrow.

"Well… It's… You know…" I stuttered and choked as I didn't want to sound like some pervert or creep.

"I'm sure there are different rooms in there anyways dude." Gaige giggled as she headed inside.

Oh yeah… My head is way out there right now. Jealousy and lust can do that to someone. Hey. I'm sixteen. I can do that. Also I'm not jealous. I'm just saying it can put someone's head out there. And I am also not lusting after Gaige. Also just saying it can really put someone's head out there. Also, barely surviving a train crash definitely puts someone's head out there. Yeah. So it's the damn crash alright? Yeah. I need to cut down on my internal monologuing. I'm talking to myself in my head way too much.

"Hey, you coming in or not?" Gaige's voice cut through my internal monologuing.

"Oh. Yeah. Coming." I muttered as I stepped into the building.

"Well, there are two beds." Gaige pointed out as we stepped into the one-room building

"Yeah… But you'd probably just fit on both too." I said as I scrutinized the beds. They were probably like super small size or something.

"I'm sure we can fit on each one!" Gaige said as she went to try to lie down on one.

"Yeah… Not gonna work." I grunted as I started pushing the the other bed to the bed Gaige was trying to stay on. Good luck with a bed that narrow Gaige.

"C'mon get off." I grunted as she stepped off the bed.

"What about you?" Gaige asked as I set the bed in place.

"I'll check next door. If there's nothing there, the couch over there looks slightly wider than the freaking bed." I joked as I started for the door.

"Hey, couldn't you just stay here anyways?" Gaige called out gesturing at the couch.

"Well fine if you insist." I shrugged as I settled on to the couch.

"Thanks." Gaige's voice came really softly as I settled into a sleeping position.

"No probs." I turned to smile at her but she'd already fallen asleep.

Or at least looked like it. I got up and crept out of the building. Ah the not-so-great outdoors of Pandora.

"Can't sleep?" A voice came from somewhere in the dark night.

"Woah. Er yeah kinda." I stuttered as I came face-to-face with Maya.

"What's keeping you up?" Maya asked as we walked towards the controls to open the gate leading out of Liar's Berg.

"What's not keeping me up?" I asked in return and earned a smile from Maya.

"Well, the nighttime?" Maya patted my shoulder before flipping the switch.

"I had really odd sleep cycles back home." I shrugged as we headed out of Liar's Berg.

"I see…" Maya said kind of awkwardly as we sat by the edge of the slope leading to the rest of the Southern Shelf.

"What about you?" I asked, not wanting things to get too awkward.

"It's a long story." Maya smiled and turned her head to the sky.

"Well, we've got all night." I said as I lay back in the snow, dangling my legs off the edge of the slope. It wasn't too big a distance but I would probably get injured if I fell off from here.

So Maya went on about why she came to Pandora. She was hoping to be able to do some research about her Siren lineage. So the entirety of her not yet finding anything in her first few hours on Pandora and not knowing if she will find anything at all, is keeping her awake.

"Oh… Wow…" I was lost for words. I mean, she was so bugged even though this was just her first few hours?

"You're probably thinking I shouldn't be so vexed about it right? Seeing as how I've barely been here for a day." Maya spoke up, as if reading my thoughts.

"Wow. Is mind reading something Sirens can do?" I asked, trying to fight back any thoughts I didn't want her to read.

"Kinda. I'm very sensitive - most of the time - to what people are feeling and I can tell you're really worried right now. Got some thoughts you didn't want me to read?" Maya laughed as she decided to lay back in the snow.

"Wow. Okay. I am gonna try my best to not think anything at all when I'm around you now." I said, gazing into the beautiful, starry night sky.

"Relax. I wouldn't want to read the mind of a sixteen year old boy like you anyways." Maya giggled as she turned to gaze at the sky too.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I turned my to face her.

"I can tell you really like Gaige." Maya simply turned and smiled at me, locking yes with me, daring me to maintain eye contact with her.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that." I spat out as I felt my cheeks burning up.

"I'm not saying there's anything wrong Muery. I'm just saying if you don't want the others to find out you shouldn't be too forward about it!" She continued smiling at me.

"Oh… Erm… Thanks I guess." I turned back to face the sky. I wasn't sure how to recover from something that embarrassing.

"Hey, if you ever need to talk about your problems, I'm here alright?" Maya sat up and spoke into the night.

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks." I sat up too.

"Well, it's getting late and I think we should both be getting some sleep." Maya said before getting up and heading back into Liar's Berg.

I followed silently behind, contemplating if I should just talk to her about my worries and insecurities.

"Want to tell me something?" Maya asked as we walked.

"No. Not yet at least." I answered sincerely after putting some thought into it. I guess I wasn't even sure why I was feeling worried or insecure. I mean Hammerlock is still an old dude…

"Well, Ill be here whenever okay kid?" Maya smiled warmly as she headed for her 'house'.

"Yeah! Thanks…" I called out behind before returning to my 'house'. Or rather, mine and Gaige's 'house'

Gaige was still sleeping quietly as I laid down on the couch. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

**A/N: And that's chapter 3! Hope it was worth the wait I put you guys through! My parents locked up my Macbook for a couple of days so I couldn't write or post anything till now. So thanks for all your patience and support! Anyway I also just recently did some research and yes, before anyone shouts at me in the reviews. I know Gaige knows about the Vault. But for the sake of keeping her in the character I feel she should be playing, she kind of forgot about it. Since she hasn't really gotten the chance nor time to settle down. So anyways I just uploaded episode 5 of my Youtube series #NoSkillAxton where, as the title suggests, I'll be playing through Borderlands 2 as Axton without deploying his Sabre Turret. So go check that out if you're a Borderlands 2 fan and give me a chance! But even if you don't check the video(s) out thank you so much for already showing me so much support and love for the Fic and I'll see you guys in the next chapter. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Exploring the Southern Shelf Because Reasons

~Southern Shelf~

"Muery! Get up!" I heard a voice calling my name.

Mum? Wait no I'm an orphan. Too many ECHOtoons. I blinked my eyes open to see a really pretty face.

"Oh. Hey Gaige. Morning." I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes.

"Come on dude! I need you to help me go collect bullymong fur! Let's go!" Gaige practically yanked me off the couch.

"Wait, why do we have to hunt bullymong for their fur?" I asked, still groggy.

"Because! Hammerlock wants it for his almanac!" Gaige said, turning away from me she literally dragged me from 'our house'.

"Oh…" I muttered right before I tripped over something I clearly didn't see and landed face first into the snow.

"Muery! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" Gaige shrieked a little as she helped me up.

"No. It's not your fault I should have been more awake." I yawned at the end of the sentence, eliciting a giggle from Gaige.

"Did you go out killing more things last night?" Gaige asked as we walked towards the gate leading out of Liar's Berg, down a slope… Oh… That explains why she thought I went out killing things…

"What? No, just went out for a walk 'cos I couldn't sleep." I yawned again as Axton, Salvador and Zer0 all came walking back into town.

"Hey Muery, finally up from late night hunting huh?" Axton said as he saw me.

"No way man. I promised I'd ask you out the next time I went killing stuff. Oh like now. Gaige and I were gonna go get bullymong fur for Hammerlock's almanac." I rubbed my eyes a little.

"Nah. Just had a morning of bandit killing with Sal and Zer0. Also we got all of us some shields so we won't instantly get brutally injured next time we fight something like Knuckledragger." Axton held out two shields for me and Gaige.

"Oh. Cool. Wait where'd these come from?" I asked as I reached for one shield.

"Oh, I pooled our ECHOcurrency together so we all share the earnings we get. Oh and here's the heavier shield. Let Gaige take the lighter one." Axton passed a shield to me and the other to Gaige.

"Oh. Ok." I didn't even realise we had any ECHOcurrency at all.

"Thanks Axton. We should go get the fur now dude. Let's go!" Gaige tugged me along as we ran down the slope out of Liar's Berg.

"Hold up, you don't have a gun yet!" I objected as we hopped off the end of the slope and jogged towards a marker on our minimap.

"You have your Party Cannon and a knife! We'll be fine! Plus everyone else kinda cleared out the area reasonably well so all we have to do is collect the fur from bullymongs!" Gaige smiled and continued jogging along.

"Well alright I guess." I panted along as we neared the marker on the minimap

"What are kids doing out here?" A voice called out and we turned to face a bandit.

"Look. No guns." I held my hands up and got down on my knees.

"Dude?" Gaige stared at me questioningly while the bandit walked over.

"Get on your knees too little lady!" The bandit growled at Gaige.

"Do what he says Gaige." I urged her as she hesitantly got down on her knees.

"But-" Gaige started as I turned on the bandit and stabbed him in the face, spraying blood all over me.

"Shit dude!" Gaige cried out as I turned back to her, face covered blood.

"Heck, it'll wash off." I smiled as I wiped off as much blood as I could with my sleeve.

"Well, the bullymong nest is right up ahead." Gaige said as she pointed past the bandit camp.

"Alright then let's go get ourselves some bullymong fur." I sheathed the knife as we walked into the nest.

A loud roar filled skies as bullymongs appeared from the holes in the wall.

"Okay, so the fur we have to collect has to be that tuft of fur from the top of their heads. Oh, and it's only good if it's from the larger ones." Gaige said as I powered up the Party Cannon.

"Okay. Let's harvest some fur!" I grinned as I loosed three shots, dropping three bullymongs as soon as they emerged from their holes.

"We need two more large bullymongs Muery. That third one was a smaller bullymong." Gaige called out as I dropped another three bullymongs.

"Okay, one more large bullymong." Gaige called out as a large bullymong appeared in one hole and an even larger one appeared in another.

"Holy crap. That guy is huge!" I yelled as I nailed the smaller one in the head before blasting the rest of my shots into the head of the larger bullymong.

It just roared in anger and leaped out of the hole ferociously. Oh crap. I shoved Gaige into the snow as I ran up to it with the knife in hand. I ducked under a swipe and plunged the knife into the arm it swung at me. I yanked it out just before it raised its arms again for another slam. I rolled out of under its way before its gigantic arms crashed into the ice again. I scrambled to my feet and slid under it as it reared up for another slam. I jumped on to the bullymong before it had the time to react and repeatedly stabbed the knife into its thick fur. I wasn't sure if I was doing any damage to it as it tried to shake me off. My fingers slid off the grip of the knife and I flew into the ice wall. My shield was instantly depleted as a sound notification alerted me of my depleted shield. Crap. The Party Cannon was almost ready but I'd still need time for it to charge as well. The bullymong charged me. I had nowhere to run. I braced myself for the impact as the bullymong crashed into with its tiny head. I heard a bone snap as my Party Cannon winked green in the corner of my HUD. I also noticed how low my vitals were. I ignored the warning bleeps from my ECHO as I powered up the Party Cannon. The bullymong backed off, getting ready for a second charge as I slumped to the ground.

"Fuck. You." I grunted as I fired the charged shot as the bullymong decided to charge again.

The bullymong flew into the ice wall across of me. Its vitals were gone. Great, now to go check on Gaige.

"Gaige, you okay?" I grunted as I saw her coming up towards me.

"Yeah! But what about you? You're badly injured!" She cried out as she knelt down beside.

"I just need some Anshin and I'll be fine." I grunted as I tried to get on my feet. A sharp pain burned from my chest, as I just noticed blood pooling on my shirt.

"Muery you're bleeding too much! Don't move! I'll get you some Anshin!" Gaige pushed me back on to the ground as she ran towards the bandit camp.

My vision was going blurry. I felt really weak. Weaker than after the train crash. My shield recharged as I heard a burst of static and felt a field of energy form around me.

"Here! I found some Anshin!" I heard Gaige say as my vision went black.

I felt the needle puncture my arm as the familiar feeling of wounds healing and a new sensation of my fractured bone healing course through my body. My vision came back to me a again as I saw Gaige by the dead body of the gigantic bullymong.

"Hey. What are you doing?" I grunted as I felt the last of my wounds heal.

"Getting your knife to cut the tufts of fur from their heads." Gaige shouted as she climbed on the dead bullymong and felt around for my knife.

"Hey, let me do it!" I staggered over to the corpse as she hopped off.

"I got it! Let's get ourselves some bullymong fur!" She smiled as she passed me the knife and helped me to the nearest bullymong corpse.

"I'm guessing the fur from that big dude isn't good?" I asked as I grabbed the tuft of fur on the top of the head of this bullymong corpse and cut it off.

"Ooh. Minions! Are you collecting bullymong fur?" Claptrap's voice came over the ECHO.

"How'd you know?" I asked as Gaige and I walked over to another corpse.

"Well I just wondering where my two smallest minions were and Axton told me! Anyway, you mind giving the bullymong fur to me?" Claptrap's voice came over again.

"Sorry Claptrap, this is for Hammerlock's almanac." I replied as I cut off the second tuft of fur.

"Hammerlock wants it for his almanac? Minion! Everyone knows that bullymong fur is a great aesthetic accessory! Especially the fur from the large monks!" Claptrap's voice came over again as I cut the third tuft of hair.

"Gaige, what is Claptrap talking about?" I asked Gaige as we made our way to the fourth and final corpse.

"Well, I… Erm… Might have lied about why Hammerlock wanted the fur." Gaige admitted sheepishly as she took the knife from me, while I froze in my tracks, and cut off the last tuft of hair.

"Wait. So Hammerlock wanted it for aesthetic reasons as well?" I asked as she put the knife back in my hand.

"Well, he wanted it to make his hat look nicer." Gaige blushed as she said it.

"Okay minion! I'll offer you a shotgun I found off a corpse I stumbled across. You can still smell the sadness on it." Claptrap's voice came over the ECHO.

"Really? You have a shotgun on you?" I asked questioningly

"Hammerlock promised me a sniper rifle!" Gaige blurted as finished my question.

"Minion! I'm offering a shotgun! That's better than a sniper rifle!" Claptrap's voice came across the ECHO again.

"Hold on here. You're telling me you lied to me to get these furs for you so you could get a sniper rifle from Hammerlock?" I asked Gaige angrily.

I couldn't believe her. I mean didn't I already made it clear I was interested in her? Well, I mean that might not have been really clear but still. I mean even if she had asked me for help, without lying to me, I would have her anyways! Why did she lie to me?

"Muery, I was worried you wouldn't help me if I told you the truth!" She cowered a little.

"And why wouldn't I help you?" I glared at her fiercely.

"I didn't think you'd want to help Hammerlock collect aesthetic accessory." Gaige blurted out as she looked away from me.

"Oh. Just 'cos I'm a guy? Is that it? Firstly, that's sexist. And secondly, I can't believe you don't trust in me as a friend enough to tell me the truth." I spat angrily, really hurt by how little she trusted me.

If Gaige trusted me as a friend, I'm sure she would have just told me the truth right? And after all the things I've for her she still doesn't trust me to be her friend? You know what? I don't even care if she doesn't have feelings for me. The fact that I don't even classify as a friend sucks. Even after all we been through yesterday, I thought we were at least friends. Guess I'm wrong.

"Muery, I-" Gaige started but I cut her off.

"Forget it. Here's the fur. As much as I want that shotgun, I really don't care now. Give the fur to Hammerlock. I need some time alone." I grumbled as I passed her the fur before stalking off.

"Muery! Wait up!" Gaige called out from behind me.

"Take the fur and give it to Hammerlock and leave me alone." I growled through gritted teeth as I held my knife firmly in front of me.

"O-okay. I will. I'm sorry Muery." Gaige apologised as she quickly picked up the tufts of fur of the ground.

I ignored her apology as I walked off further into the shelf. I heard her footsteps behind getting closer.

"I said. Go. Go back to Liar's Berg and give Hammerlock the fur. Leave me alone. You'll need the rifle." I spat angrily, unsure why I said the last part.

Gaige looked like she was really hurt by what I was saying. She looked like she was about to cry. I turned away, gritted my teeth and clenched my fist as I walked away. She wasn't the only one hurting. I can't believe even after what we went through yesterday she couldn't even trust me as a friend. Yeah I don't have the right to be jealous or say I really love Gaige and I also have no right to be hurt either. But right now, I don't even care that she seems to be friendlier with Hammerlock because he has a prosthetic arm like her. I didn't care that she practically forgot about me as soon as we saw Hammerlock yesterday. I only care that she didn't have that trust in me that she could be honest with a friend. My cheeks felt really cold all of sudden. I wiped my face with my sleeve as made a conscious effort to fight back the tears. I'm a guy. I don't cry over little things like this.

~Southern Shelf Bay~

My ECHO alerted me of entering a new area. Huh. Some kind of bay this is. All I could see was snow and ice. And gigantic walls of ice. That meant more bullymongs. More things I could vent on.

"COME FUCKING GET ME!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I was replied with a symphony of roars.

I have never been so happy about knowing there were things to kill. Yeah I hunted a little back home. But I always hunted dying or sickly creatures that were better off dead. But then again, there weren't many things that wanted me dead back home either. Every bullymong here seemed to have some kind of hate towards anything that moved and wasn't a bullymong. I counted off at least five bullymongs appearing in the holes in the walls before three bullymongs immediately charged me.

"Eat my fucking shit." I growled softly as I powered up the Party Cannon and fired three shots for three kills.

The bullymongs just kept coming. The next seven to try at me got downed with ease. They weren't even trying to dodge my shots. The next two took a bit of time as I ruthlessly plunged my knife into them over and over. I was feeling a lot better already. Another three bullymongs came at me and got some Party Cannon to the face. Seven more shots and there was nothing else to kill. I dematerialized the Party Cannon and continued heading forward. Oh. So this why it's the bay. As far as I could see, there was nothing but the blue icy ocean. At least I assumed all the ocean I could see would be cold. The water would probably cool me off perfectly. I let my feet dip into the ocean. Hmm, the shield seems to be able to keep the water off my clothes. I dived in. The cold engulfed me whole as I let the fire in my soul be put out by the icy cold water. I soaked in there till my HUD alerted me that my shield was depleted. Wait… What? Oh crap. Yup clothes wet now. Out I go. I heaved myself out of the icy cold water to see a pair of legs standing by the edge.

"You trying to freeze yourself to death?" I looked up to see Maya.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I sat up by the edge of the ocean.

"Gaige came back alone. And I heard Axton say you two were going out to do get bullymong fur together. So I thought I'd come out to look for you since you didn't come back yet." Maya placed a hand on my shoulder as she stood behind me.

"I just needed to cool off." I brushed her hand off as I got up.

"Something happened you want to talk about?" Maya asked as I started heading back for Liar's Berg.

"No." My reply was curt as she started walking behind me.

"You know, I never thought you were such a nasty person. To make a girl cry." Maya said nonchalantly and I stopped in my tracks.

"What did Gaige say?" I asked worriedly, fearing she might actually hate me now. I was so not thinking at all just now.

"She's just really afraid that you hate her now. For lying to you. And not trusting in you as a friend." Maya said tenderly.

"I don't. I never will. It's just that… I…" I stopped as I felt the bile rising in my throat. I was really nasty to her just now.

"Then you better get back there and talk to her." Maya smiled reassuringly as I started jogging back to Liar's Berg.

~Liar's Berg~

"Oh hey look Mr Hotshot is back." Axton commented dryly as he stood by the gate.

"Not now Axton." I grumbled as I started to walk past him.

"Hold on." Axton stepped in my way.

"What do you want Axton? Spit it out now." I demanded as he folded his arms.

"You better not make Gaige cry again." He stated plain and simple,

"Let him go talk to her Axton." Maya spoke up from behind me.

I shoved Axton aside as I headed for Hammerlock's place.

"Hey Hammerlock, is Gaige here?" I knocked on his door.

"She came by with the fur just now. Tell me, does my hat look nicer?" Hammerlock was grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh yeah sure. Okay. Bye." I muttered as I headed back to 'our house'.

"Gaige?" I called out as I stepped into the building.

She was huddled up on the bed, sniper rifle by the bed, something else in her grasp.

"Gaige. I'm really sorry for-" I started but she suddenly got off the bed, holding a shotgun in her hand.

"Gaige. Put that down. Please?" I backed up slowly.

Gaige held out the shotgun. Wait… Where did that come from? Well, at least she doesn't want to kill me with it.

"I'm sorry. For not trusting in you as a friend. I just thought that since you were so mad, I went to get more fur so Claptrap would give me the shotgun. Here." Gaige kept the shotgun held up.

"Gaige. I'm sorry for flaring up like that just now. I don't deserve this. You earned it." I pushed the shotgun back to her.

"No. I've never really given anyone anything before so just take it alright?" Gaige blushed as she blurted out the words.

"Oh. I, er, thanks. We're cool then?" I asked nervously, accepting the shotgun. Wow, I'm the first person she ever gave anyone a gift to?

"Yeah. We're cool." She said, standing there, twiddling her fingers.

Should I go for it? I decided to go for broke. I placed the shotgun on the floor, put my arms around her and pulled her close. Her arms went around my waist and she leaned her head in on my chest.

"I really like you Gaige." I blurted as we stood there.

"I like you too. You're the only guy who's ever been this nice and thoughtful to me." Gaige's words came out a little muffled as we stood there for a while.

"Hey we're eating now, you two coming to joins us?" Axton's voice came over the ECHO.

"Yeah. Sure." I replied as we broke apart.

"I am famished. Bullymong hunting is not easy dude." Gaige commented as we walked out.

"Well let's hope whatever's cooking'll fill you up." I smiled as we headed to the smoke column coming from the chimney of Hammerlock's place.

"Yeah. But I wonder what we'll be eating though." Gaige pondered out loud.

"Whatever it is, I'm not gonna be choosy as long as it taste good." I reached for Gaige's hand as we were walking.

I held her hand as we interlaced our fingers together. Just like in ECHOshows. Cool. The only thing missing now is the nighttime and a walk in a park.

"Muery, wait up." Gaige said as we stopped outside Hammerlock's place.

"Yeah?-" Was all I could said before she tiptoed and kissed me on the cheek.

Wow. Forget about the nighttime and walk. This was perfect enough for me. Gaige actually kissed me. She actually just kissed me.

"You… You okay dude?" Gaige asked as her cheeks burned bright red.

"Y-yeah. Never better." I smiled at her as I felt my cheeks burning up.

"Your cheeks are really red though." She looked to the ground as her cheeks became a brighter red.

"No! It's nothing I'm fine! Really!" I blurted as I felt my cheeks burn up even more.

"So are you two gonna just stand blushing at each other or join us already?" Axton's voice came from the doorway.

"Eek!" Gaige jumped a little as Axton spoke up.

"You two are really adorable. I think I might cry." Axton sneered at me.

"Haha. Funny." I did my best to fight down the blushing.

"Hey guys! They finally kissed and made up!" Axton called back into the house as he walked back in.

Gaige just stood there, face red in the prettiest way possible. I really didn't know what to say or do at this point. This was really awkward. Axton just had to make this really awkward for us.

"Let's go in?" We said together.

"Yeah sure." Again.

"You first." This is just really awkward now.

"Hey come on in you two. Don't mind Axton alright?" Maya came out to bring us in.

"Yeah. Okay." I mumbled as Gaige walked in with Maya while I closed the door behind us.

**A/N: Okay… I had a lot of trouble with the second half of this chapter cos I'm not really good with this thing at all. But I guess that just adds to their charm right? The awkward and somewhat cute couple right? Yeah okay I'm gonna go kill myself for writing this chapter like this. Also spoiler alert. Almost every 'romantic' scene will go as awkwardly as this one did because Muery is just the most awkward guy and Gaige isn't too much of a relationship expert herself. So expect this kind of awkward romance for a while at least. Until they start to actually bond with each other. Also, Maya and Krieg will only be very subtle as this is from Muery's POV so he probably won't be able to tell if there's anything going on between Maya and Krieg. But I'll be leaving little breadcrumbs about them being in love, but not so much since Krieg is kinda out there most of the time and Maya knows how to play it cool. And another thing, please leave any suggestions you have for what optional missions might be interesting to put these two in because I might have played Borderlands 2 a lot but I still can't remember every mission by heart, so if there are any missions you guys would like to see Muery and Gaige take on together, let me know. Of course they can't and won't take on every optional quest cos that will kill me to write and you guys would also get sick of it too. So before I end of my note, Nisha's skill was released a couple of days ago, at the time of typing this chapter, and I'd like to hear of your thoughts about it! Hit me up on Twitter, and in case you haven't already guessed it, my Twitter handle is DooMKrusadeR. So come say hi and tweet me ideas too! Also thanks to any of you readers who are checking out and #NoSkillAxton series on Youtube, I really appreciate all the support you guys are giving me one this Fic and Youtube. So hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Bye!**


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